between people and therefore can relate and bind them together’. Inter-est as I see it means determin- ing how the space between people is used and, thus, what attitude is adopted with respect to the other(s). ‘Space’ may be the classroom where you have to adopt a certain attitude towards other training participants; But it may also be your living space, the space of the farmyard, the neighbourhood, the village, the town, the country or the world.
Phases
A number of development phases can be identified in applied sociotherapy. Their length depends on situation and context. Within a sociotherapeutic process, a next phase presents itself when the preceding phase is sufficient- ly developed. Both internal and external conditions to do with individual participants and incidents during the social gathering determine if the next phase can begin. It is sometimes necessary to return to earlier phases in order to make progress together. As these development phases are gone through, the sociotherapy principles are applied to each and every one of them. It is educationally meaningful and conducive to the development process if mem- bers of sociotherapy groups familiarise themselves with the concepts that underlie the different time phases.
Box VII Phases
Phases Explanation
The characteristics of group development phases are commonly found, both inside and outside institutions. 1. Safety Because of the feelings of unsafety that many war-afflicted
sociotherapy participants report, sociotherapy facilitators must, first of all, create safety. They can create safety by providing structure in the form of day programmes, with a set number of social activities (starting the day together, joining in activities, socialising during breaks, rounding off the day together). It also presupposes an attitude on their part whereby the development of a functional, trust- based relationship is grounded in the principles of proper social interaction.
531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019
Processed on: 8-5-2019 PDF page: 44PDF page: 44PDF page: 44PDF page: 44
44
2. Trust With increasing safety, a second phase presents itself; As participants’ control needs diminish, members of the facilitating sociotherapy teams spend less time conferring outside their regular appointments. Aim of this second development phase is for the participants to regain their ability to trust. The sociotherapists’ contribution to building trust lies in their sustained provision of structure and in a consistently adopted attitude that supports the building of trust and structure.
3. Care Following the phases of safety and trust comes a third de- velopment phase as it comes home to war survivors what hardships they and the others have endured and what their losses amount to. They will express this in a variety of ways. The most distinctive expressions involve reflec- tion and increased caring behaviour in the sense of look- ing after each other and (occasionally) of self-care. The facilitating sociotherapeutic skills that go with this phase involve a consistent, continued professional attitude that supports structure and the functional relationship of trust. Subtly observing any changes in the behaviour of the sociotherapy group members, sociotherapists help and enable them to discern and recognise the specific meaning of changes in this phase.
4. Respect An increasingly felt certainty as to safety, trust and care, in the sense of looking after each other, allows the expres- sion of tensions that have arisen over cultural differences in expectation with regard to respect. Before the group members share fragments of their personal war expe- riences they test the reliability of their newly enhanced experience of safety, trust and care through the subject of ‘showing respect’. In this phase the sociotherapy facilita- tors maintain their attitude of supporting structure and trust. By thematising the subject in the fourth phase they acknowledge the significance of the desire for specific (war-memories related) and cultural forms of respect. If the situation requires this, sociotherapists will methodi- cally confront participants with present-day reality.
531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019
Processed on: 8-5-2019 PDF page: 45PDF page: 45PDF page: 45PDF page: 45
45
5. Say inrule-making When everyone is satisfied as to the reliability with which respect is shown, there is room for future-oriented dis- cussions. Not seldom do these include the wish to have a say in the rules of the institution(s) that govern the basic structure of group members’ communal life. Step by step they say, during this fifth phase, who they are, how they view certain matters and what social roles they play(ed); Apart from the sustained provision of daily structure and a persisting attitude to support the development of trust and respect, the sociotherapy facilitators’ contri- bution consists of the ability to function as committed and interested discussion partners with knowledge of the political, societal and social contexts. Sociotherapeutic actions will gain meaning if the views on rule-making are responded to methodically (i.e. adopting the basic princi- ples). By emphasising, during the fifth phase, the variation in the rules (of the games) that are interwoven with the day-structuring activities, the sociotherapists enable par- ticipants to reflect on effective ways of exercising control. 6. Processing
emotions Processing distressing emotions features from the very first moment of clients being together in a sociotherapy session. Emotions will intrude more or less forcefully in each of the various development phases. Sociotherapists handle these emotions with the help of the notions that correspond to the phases listed here. Also, they incor- porate such activities in the day programmes that make the tensions accompanying these distressing emotions manageable;
Once the members of sociotherapy groups are clear about the reliability of their environment and the facilitating sociotherapy team, a favourable condition arises, during the sixth phase, for deciding whether or not to proceed to a more in-depth manner of processing traumatic emotions, with the help of specialists. In this phase it is important for the participants of the groups that socio- therapists function as both providers of information and as sounding boards with respect to the decision that has to be made.
Methods and techniques
Community-based sociotherapy comes ‘to life’ as the various methods and techniques are used and applied. Using these methods and techniques helps
531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019
Processed on: 8-5-2019 PDF page: 46PDF page: 46PDF page: 46PDF page: 46
46
trainees recognise how the sociotherapy principles are applied in actual prac- tice and how the different phases of a group process develop. In this section I briefly describe a range of methods and techniques to return to a number of these in more detail later on.
Box VIII Method and techniques
Learning by
doing The trainees are introduced to 15 different exercises, from conducting morning and afternoon assemblies, to formu- lating group rules and giving their own definitions of the notions from the development phases.
Dialogue The exercises yield subjects that lend themselves to dialectical talks. The introduction of the Johari Window, for example, gives rise an exchange of novel ideas and thoughts that were also of great significance to the socio- therapy trainees themselves, touching on ways of inter- acting with present and future life partners, e.g. Thema- tising the development phases and the application of the principles also leads to dialectical talks.
Photo 3
531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019
Processed on: 8-5-2019 PDF page: 47PDF page: 47PDF page: 47PDF page: 47
47
Groupassignments Doing nine different group assignments, trainees learn how the principles and the development phases work in practice. One such group assignment has trainees dis- cuss the differences between emotions and behaviours. Another example is making and playing a game of Happy Families about sociotherapy.
Homework
assignments To keep up the good spirit even in the training-less weeks, homework assignments help and make the trainees regard their home environment in specific ways and/or think about certain themes. Equipped with an assign- ment, they can visit tens of families, and thus gain actual practice, before the sociotherapy groups are formed. The homework assignments also ensure that the training remains linked up with context-derived information and provides instructive material to be used in the training. Games The trainees are introduced to a number of games. The chosen games preferably focus on enhancing ordering and combining skills and on increasing trainees’ concen- tration. The games preferably vary in difficulty and can and cannot be incorporated in actual practice. It is the trainees who decide on this.
Relax & re-fo-
cus games The trainees are daily introduced to (brief) relax & re- focus games. While it is the trainer who kicks off the games, the trainees are gradually invited to devise and organise similar short games.
Role-plays Role-plays are meant to clarify any information that is brought up. Trainees are sometimes given the task of thinking up their own script. Other role-plays train how to coach and supervise a sociotherapy group. Through these, trainees learn to observe and give advice, and to learn from each other’s observations and advice. Positioning the methods and techniques
Where the methods and techniques are positioned is illustrated by means of this example of a day programme.
531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019
Processed on: 8-5-2019 PDF page: 48PDF page: 48PDF page: 48PDF page: 48
48
Box IX A day programme
Time Activity Significance
10 mins Arrival, arranging the training room, presenting the pro- gramme, note-taking.
A well-ordered training room provides structure;
A day programme structures safety.
15 mins Informal greeting and time for
prayer (local custom). Informal greeting lowers the treshold for joining in. 45 mins Assembly (daily);
First three meetings led by the trainer (learning by example), then by one of the trainees (learning by doing).
Focus on well-being; Linking up training days; Impromptu questioning means tailoring;
Source of training material. 60 mins Educational subject arising
from an assembly or otherwise. Learning about a wide range of subjects; One’s own everyday world matters.
20 mins Comfort break. Observing the effects of the interventions.
60 mins Exercise/task/dialogue prompt- ed by a (chosen) subject raised in assembly, or arising from the phases or principles.
Experiencing a wide range of subjects;
Learning about experiences from and with each other. 10 mins Physical exercise (daily). Relaxing and refocusing
attention. 50 mins Exercise/task/dialogue arising
from the phases or principles, or from an actualised topic.
Experiencing a wide range of subjects;
Learning about experiences from and with each other. 10 mins Room for extension, unplanned
topics or games. Responding to and linking up with whatever is going on. 60 mins Afternoon break. Observing the effects of the
interventions.
60 mins Skills practice. Learning from and with oth- ers to apply new insights. 30 mins Room for extension, unplanned
topics or games. Linking up informally with whatever is/is not actualised. 30 mins Afternoon assembly (daily);
First three meetings led by the trainer (learning by example), then by one of the trainees (learning by doing).
Looking back in assessment Focus on well-being; Inquiring if everyone is re- turning home relaxed.
531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC 531236-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019 Processed on: 8-5-2019
Processed on: 8-5-2019 PDF page: 49PDF page: 49PDF page: 49PDF page: 49